Distances from Rio Rancho, NM to nearby and major US cities
Drive times and estimated fuel costs from Rio Rancho, NM to the towns around it and to the major cities most people head for. Pick any row for the full route.
Rio Rancho, NM sits in New Mexico, on Denver time, at 35.23° north and 106.66° west. The nearest place of any size is Enchanted Hills, NM, about 11 miles away — roughly 22 min of driving. 3 other towns of size are within an hour's drive.
Counting only places above twenty thousand people, 6 are within three hours' driving of Rio Rancho, NM and 29 within six — which is a better measure of how connected a town is than its position on a map. The nearest city of real size is Albuquerque, NM, about 14 miles out.
The two lists below answer different questions. The first is what is physically close, which is what you want for an errand or a day out. The second is the major cities people actually drive to from here, which is usually a longer trip and a different kind of plan. Every figure is an estimated road distance rather than a routed one, and every drive time assumes free-flowing traffic with no allowance for a stop — how the estimate works. For a pair that is not listed here, the calculator will work out any two US cities.
Which way the driving goes from Rio Rancho, NM
Reachable places are rarely spread evenly around a town, and they are not around Rio Rancho, NM. Of everything above twenty thousand people within three hours' drive, the largest share — 2 of 6 — lies to the south, with 2 to the northeast. Only 1 sit to the west. That asymmetry is usually geography rather than road building: coastline, a state line, mountains or simply empty country in one direction and settlement in another.
6 of those places are in New Mexico and 0 are across a state line, which matters more than the mileage does. Speed limits, phone rules and what you may do at a red light are all set state by state, so a drive of the same length can be governed by two sets of rules or by one. The state-by-state differences are set out separately.
The major-city list below spans a wide range: Phoenix, AZ is about 385 miles out, roughly 6 hr 25 min of driving, while Queens, NY is around 2,107 miles — a different order of trip entirely, and one to plan in stages rather than as a day.
One thing none of these figures account for: the distance is the same in both directions but the drive often is not. A route that climbs on the way out descends on the way back, rush hour is in one direction in the morning and the other in the evening, and a mountain pass can be open one way and closed the other in winter. The estimate here is symmetrical because the road is; the day is not. For a long haul out of Rio Rancho, NM, the road safety guides cover the part the mileage leaves out.
Closest cities to Rio Rancho, NM
- Enchanted Hills, NM 11 mi · 22 min
- Albuquerque, NM 14 mi · 28 min
- South Valley, NM 19 mi · 30 min
- Santa Fe, NM 60 mi · 1 hr 12 min
- Gallup, NM 138 mi · 2 hr 18 min
- Farmington, NM 157 mi · 2 hr 37 min
- Alamogordo, NM 193 mi · 3 hr 13 min
- Roswell, NM 204 mi · 3 hr 24 min
- Las Cruces, NM 234 mi · 3 hr 54 min
- Clovis, NM 237 mi · 3 hr 57 min
Major cities from Rio Rancho, NM
- Phoenix, AZ 385 mi · 6 hr 25 min
- San Antonio, TX 723 mi · 11 hr 28 min
- Los Angeles, CA 769 mi · 12 hr 12 min
- Houston, TX 880 mi · 13 hr 58 min
- Chicago, IL 1301 mi · 20 hr 39 min
- Philadelphia, PA 2025 mi · 32 hr 9 min
- New York City, NY 2097 mi · 33 hr 17 min
- Manhattan, NY 2099 mi · 33 hr 19 min
- Brooklyn, NY 2100 mi · 33 hr 20 min
- Queens, NY 2107 mi · 33 hr 27 min